Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Blog Writing Goals for 2007

By Patsi Krakoff in In the News..., Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Writing Great Blog Content

I’m a bit early on the New Year’s goals thing, but I was thinking after writing a post over on Build a Better Blog about Gartner’s predictions that the numbers of blogs will peak and fizzle at 100 million in 2007.

Paul Chaney commented to the original post over at Business Blog Consulting that these numbers don’t have meaning for businesses who are just waking up to the effectiveness of blogs, and he predicts that 2007 will be the year that blogs "go deep."

Then I asked readers what that might mean: If you’ve started blogging, what does this mean for you and your business…how will you "go deep?"

To me, it means writing more, revealing more about myself and my business, and getting more interactions from and conversations with readers/clients/customers/peers.

I realize that this blog is specialized to the point of being very trendily entrenched in the Long Tail… it will never have large numbers of readers. I try to focus on writing issues as they pertain to newsletters and blogs, and we all know that people don’t wake up craving that.

But I will try to write more frequently about the issues of writing and publishing ezines and blogs, so that readers can learn more, and maybe even use this blog as a forum or place they can ask their burning questions about email marketing and ezines. If I don’t know the answer, I probably know where you can go to find what you need.

And the other thing I could do is to share more personally, about my own processes while working. This is still a business blog… although I can’t resist sharing humor like the elf yesterday, I’m not going to tell you stupid personal stuff. It’s all so very fascinating, I know, but you’ll just have to use your imaginations…

How will use your ezines and blogs to "go deep?" What does this mean to you?

Elf-in’ Around: Holiday Cheer on a Slow Day…

By Patsi Krakoff in Fun and Irrelevant Things About Patsi

Thanks to Debbie Weil, I wasted an hour creating this goofy dancing elf of myself. But it did give me a belly-ache full of chuckles, instead of doing my work…

Go here to see my version of Debbie’s Elfamorphitization…

[Well, folks, I spoke too soon, the Office Max Elf Yourself site seems to be experiencing server issues; the links here are apparently only good for 24 hours, and when I tried to create a new link, the system kept giving error messages. I’ll try again later – updated 12/20/06 at 9:30 a.m. PT]

Here’s Denise doing the Holiday Hip Hop!

Who said white elves can’t dance?

The point is, this clever little thing will get passed around millions of times over the Holidays, and all thanks to good spirit over at Office Max. I raise my elf cap to the bright minds over there.

You: Time’s Person of the Year and What You Should Be Doing About It

By Patsi Krakoff in Online Marketing

This is important so, pay attention. Time Magazine has declared YOU to be the Person of the Year. Why? Because of all the citizen journalists, citizen marketers, and extraordinary people participating on the Internet.

Denise and I have been waving that flag for the last couple of years, but now it is official: the Internet just got a whole lot easier for the average business person to use. The Blog Squad wants you to be a part of what Silicon Valley calls "Web 2.0".

CNN.com reports that, yes, there is also the stupidity of crowds, but there is also a wave of collaboration never seen before.

The question is, how will you participate? Are you still chugging along thinking your website will pull in clients? Good luck with that. As my nephews would say, "that is soooo old school."

Here’s an idea: For 2007 start a blog for your business and see what happens. I dare you. Be my guest. Here are a few resources for you to consider:

www.buildabetterblogsystem.com
www.buildabetterblogservice.com
www.blogtobook.com
www.blogsquad.biz

You can even set up your newsletter on a blogging platform and send it out through an email service like Feedblitz.com… That way people can respond immediately to your ideas and participate on the Web. And guess what? Everything posted on the web gets indexed, making it easier for people to find you.

Blog Memed: I’ve Been Hit, Tag, Your Next!

By Patsi Krakoff in About Blogs

Today I was "memed" by Denise Wakeman who was memed earlier by Paul Chaney who was memed by Diva Toby Bloomberg. This is a game going around the blogosphere where you reveal What 5 Things You Don’t Know About Me.

A meme is like a thought virus or a cultural virus that gets passed on, usually organically. In this case, the meme is getting passed around strategically by bloggers. It’s a good way to introduce you to other blogger friends and for readers to learn more about me and the others already memed.

Here’s the definition from Wiktionary:

Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Examples might include thoughts, ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods and terms such as race, culture, ethnicity etc.

OK, here goes…5 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me:

(Tag! You’re it: Dr. Charlie Parker, Paulette Ensign, Penny Sansevieri, Ian Griffin, and Bud Bilanich, the Common Sense Guy.)

American Idol of the Internet Could Be You!

By Patsi Krakoff in Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Online Marketing, Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog, Teleclasses & Seminars

I’ll admit it: I stole this idea from Ellen Britt, of Marketing Qi. She made this announcement to her people when The Blog Squad was on her teleseminar series. It goes like this:

Have you ever had secret desires… illicit thoughts about wanting to be the winner of one of those TV shows like American Idol or Survivor? Oh, come on now, admit it! I won’t tell anyone…

Imagine what it would be like to have fame, fortune and your face plastered on all the TV networks…why you probably couldn’t even go to the grocery store without people asking for your autograph.

Well, now’s your chance…

You could be the next Idol, the next Star, the new Americal Idol of the Internet!

The BlogSquad is undertaking an international search for…their Ideal Internet Marketing Client!

Only two days left to apply, get national radio exposure, and 13 weeks of free marketing mentoring.

Details here: www.blogsquadcontest.com.

Customized Newsletter Article Site Bites Dust, Gets Back Up

By Patsi Krakoff in Online Marketing

Thanks to the diligent work of Web Wizard Ilya Pozin, www.CustomizedNewsletterArticles.com is alive and well and fully restored after last week’s malicious hack. If you are new to Customized Newsletter Services, this is where we catalog all the business and personal development articles for sale for use in newsletters.

Ilya’s company Ciplex gets 5-Star recognition in the service department. Many of you know Ilya as Tom Antion’s boy wonder and "Prime Propeller Head." He is now with us on the West coast, living in West Los Angeles.

Thanks, Ilya. If you are looking for website help that is quick, efficient, and gets results, give him a call. His team of professionals know what they are doing on many levels, including marketing (often overlooked when it comes to web designers.)

Customized Newsletters Hacked! What Are You Doing About Your Passwords?

By Patsi Krakoff in Buying Content, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks

Our brand new article directory site, www.CustomizedNewsletterArticles.com was hacked last week and destroyed. Visitors got a 404 redirect page, with a nice obscene four-letter word on the tab.

There is a back-up copy up there now, but all the category listings have to be restored. So if you are looking to buy article content for your newsletters or ezines, bear with us while we work feverishly to restore the categorized articles. Some articles are already listed on the home page, but not all.

This couldn’t have happened at a worse time: Denise and I were ready to launch a price-slashing sale on all articles before the end of the year. We will still do this, so just will wait for total restoration on the site so you can look for topics that interest you.

Two questions for you: how can hackers be so malicious? How can you protect your passwords?

Let this be a word of caution to all you people who use general, easy to remember passwords like, "Admin"… Do not do this! I never thought that this was a real danger until now! Best passwords are a combination of nonsensical words and numbers. And keep your passwords written down where only you can find them.

If you’d like to share your own horror stories about hackers, please do so; it will make me feel a little better…

White Papers: Syndicate Yours and Get Found on the Web

By Patsi Krakoff in Online Marketing

Michael Stelzner writes about where to post your professional white papers. I only recently discovered his Writing White Papers blog, and it is excellent, worthy of getting the feed.

He refers readers to two special reports from Marketing Sherpa on how and where to syndicate white papers.

The reports include a brief examination of available content syndication sites, including:

* CNET’s TechRepublic/ITpapers, BNET
* KnowledgeStorm
* TechTarget

In addition to the above sites, WhitePaperSource has performed in-depth reviews on many of the above sites and some that are not listed.

While some of these sites may be more appropriate for the tech fields, the Sherpa report lists a total of 12 sites for syndicating your white papers.

Writing Guidelines: Nag, Nag, Nag

By Patsi Krakoff in Writing Better Ezines, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy, Writing Great Press Releases

I don’t care if I repeat myself. The Hubby finds it annoying, but when it comes to rules for writing, you can never hear them enough. Let’s face it, we all forget rules when we are writing.

Here are some guidelines from the CopyDiva blog, worth repeating:

The best way to improve readability in marketing, blogs, articles, even white papers:

1. Use the active voice: Write your sentences in the active voice instead of the passive voice. Active engages readers, passive drags down readability.

2. Use simpler language: Perfect example — instead of “utilize,” a 3-syllable word, try “use.” Opt for shorter simpler words wherever you can. Don’t try to impress with your large vocabulary.

3. Vary sentence length: Write the way people talk. Most people speak in phrases that vary in length, especially good public speakers. Write a mix of sentence lengths to keep the tempo lively.

4. Use the language of your audience: Writing for people who have specific technical knowledge? Use terms they understand, but sparingly. Too much jargon bores even the most technically-adept person.

Got that? Of course, this does require that you re-read and edit your stuff before you publish/submit/save. You do know that, don’t you? Of course you do…

Best Writing Blogs Listed

By Patsi Krakoff in Blogs We Love

I didn’t get an Academy nomination either, even though I am the best drama queen in my family, according to The Hubby. CoachEzines blog didn’t make this list, but that’s okay, we’re happy with our own little audience of faithful readers.

What these lists of Best Blogs always do for me (and should for you too), is make me aware of good content out there available to read and study. I didn’t know about some of these blogs, and will go there now to see what I’m missing.

Of course, Brian Clark’s Copyblogger comes in #1, and we couldn’t agree more. Here’s the list, from Michael Stelzner of Writing White Papers the best blogs for writers:

The question to you, my dear readers, is this: what other blogs do you love? Please share so that we can broaden our reading horizons. They don’t have to be about writing; please nominate your favorites that you recommend others like you should be reading.